Welcome to the April issue of "Food for Thought." We're so glad you've chosen to receive our newsletter and share exciting news of our events.

While you will find the most current information about our chapter in this newsletter, be sure to visit our website. Learn more about excellent local restaurants and markets, and find out how to share your talents and play a larger roll in the Slow Food family. We would love to hear from you. Send us an email. Our fundraising efforts support the Monkey Business Cafe in Fullerton.

New to Slow Food?Slow Food is an idea, a way of living and a way of eating. It is a
global, grassroots movement withthousands of members around the world
that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the
environment. For more information, visit their website.

Proceeds go to help our non profit involvement in Monkey Business Café, a project of Hart Community Homes foster care kids training program.

There will be raffle drawings with prizes that include a personal cooking class by Haley Nguyen owner and chef at Xanh Bistro, an excellent Vietnamese restaurant in Westminster, two seats at the table of our now famous October Slow Food Chefs dinner, hosted at several private homes where you will be served excellent food and wine in keeping with the slow food principles.

A one-mile hike, appropriate for adults and children, will be led by an Irvine Ranch Conservancy docent. Hike leaves barbeque site at 3:30 PM and returns at 4:30 PM.

Breaking News! The Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, AG Kawamura, will also attend and talk about the future of California agricultural policy.

Produce of the MonthHow fortunate we are to live in a place where so much fresh produce is available year round.While much produce that fills the local supermarket has been shipped from all over the world, a few local farms and farmers markets allow us to eat well close to home.

May 30 - Slow Food Orange County Barbeque and Potluck in Bommer Canyon, IrvineSlow Food Orange County will hold its first barbeque in Bommer Canyon, in the City of Irvine, at One Bommer Canyon Road. It is an event for the whole family and will focus on awareness of good, clean and fair food. Be sure to purchase tickets in advance, as space is strictly limited and there will be no on-site ticket sales.More information is available on our website, where you can purchase tickets.

Details to follow.

Visit our website for future events.PLEASE NOTE:Workshops that may be substituted throughout the year include a tortellini and sauce making workshop and chef demonstrations. Please contact us if you would like to conduct a workshop.

The setting is Rome, 1986. In the historic Piazza di Spagna, McDonald's opens a franchise. A small group, led by Carlo Petrini, stages a protest. It's the start of a revolution, the Slow Food revolution.

Today, the Slow Food organization counts more than eighty thousand members around the world, dedicated to reviving the pleasures of the table. To slow down, to know where one's food comes from, to preserve the taste of real food-this is the mission. The movement promotes agricultural biodiversity, sustainable farming, local producers, and heritage foodways.

Slow Food Revolution tells the fascinating story of how this powerful international coalition sprang from such a small seed. Equal parts gastronome and conservationist, Petrini started with a diversified grassroots approach that included a pirate radio station, a cooperative food store, and a line of gourmet guidebooks. Eventually Slow Food struck out into the rest of Europe and established the University of Gastronomic Sciences and the Terra Madre events. Included here are testimonies from such notable figures as the chef Alice Waters and His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales. The rise of Slow Food is an inspiration, not just for gourmets,but for anyone who seeks to make the world a better place.

Also featured here, for the first time in print, is a complete catalogue of the special foods that Slow Food protects through its Presidia projects. From the Cape May Salt Oyster to Moroccan Argan Oil, these are heirloom varieties and heritage breeds endangered by the onslaught of fast food homogeneity. In tantalizing descriptions of the more than three hundred delicacies from all over the world, you get a taste of what Slow Food is all about-rediscovering the flavors of regional cooking.

Carlo Petrini, the founder and driving force of Slow Food, was recently included in Time magazine's list of "European Heroes" as a great innovator.

Food News

Earth Day is April 22

Earth Day is almost here -- we want to know how you are planning to honor the earth on that day, and every day! There are many ways to celebrate Earth Day, and a slew of events that will highlight the connection between food and the environment being planned by the Earth Day Network,the RAFT Alliance, local Slow Food chapters, Organic Valley, and many more.

More Food News America's apple traditions are being renewed

The U.S. has lost more than 14,000 named apple varieties, and at RAFT's recent Forgotten Fruits Summit, people got together to revive "apple culture" and to determinethe best means of restoring apple diversity to our farms, roadhouses, backyards and kitchens. According to Tom Burford-an apple historian known as Professor Apple-the American landscape is once again making room for apple diversity and apple culture: "Even a decade ago, I would never have dreamed that such a gathering could happen." For the full scoop, visit the SFUSA Blog, the Civil Eats blog, and download the Forgotten Fruits Manual and Manifesto.

Become a MemberWe invite you to join the Slow Food movement! Slow Food OC is working hard to preserve and protect local foods and food traditions. Our convivium plans events and programs in places across OrangeCounty-anywhere from community gardens, taste education dinners, and farm tours-join the network and become active in planning and participating in these diverse initiatives.